Mikel Arteta's talent ID is one of the best around, with Arsenal very much front and centre of the Premier League due to his ideologies.

Once upon a time, the Spaniard claimed in a press conference that his project would go 'bang' and indeed, it has truly exploded into life this term.

The Gunners are the runaway leaders in the top flight, besting Manchester City by eight points at present.

Arteta has changed the culture of this great club in order to do so, bringing in players who will flood the dressing room with a positive and vibrant attitude. Long gone are the days of toxicity, that's for sure.

The likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus have brought a never-say-die mantra to north London, a belief and winner's mentality that has filtered down right throughout the squad.

That said, there is still some gutting left to do behind the scenes when the summer transfer window opens.

Remarkably, Arsenal have sent the most players out on loan of any club in world football this term (25), with France seemingly a temporary home for many. However, for all the success a certain Folarin Balogun has enjoyed in Ligue 1, scoring 18 times this term, there is a Nuno Tavares and Nicolas Pepe.

How is Nicolas Pepe doing on loan?

The duo were both exiled from the club's London Colney training base at the beginning of the campaign, with Tavares being sent to Marseille and Pepe to Nice.

The latter has enjoyed a fairly decent campaign as he seeks to rejuvenate his career after a record-breaking move of £72m failed to go according to plan.

Pepe has since found his feet a bit more since moving back across the channel, scoring eight goals in all competitions, two of which have come in the Europa Conference League.

A solitary assist he would surely like to improve on but these are steady, albeit far from sensational numbers.

That rather backs up the last few seasons the Ivorian has endured, showing flashes of brilliance during his stay at the Emirates Stadium, having racked up 27 goals and 21 assists for Arsenal.

It seems likely he'll finally be due a permanent exit in the summer, but Tavares arguably deserves one too.

How is Nuno Tavares doing on loan?

Pepe has seldom complained over the last few years, nor has he been a hindrance to the side's precious mental state.

Tavares, for all of his exciting play and youthful exuberance down the flanks, is the opposite of that, proving that he is perhaps worse than his parent club teammate in that regard.

Notably hauled off in the first half of an FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest last season after a shambolic showing, he angrily kicked a water bottle in response.

It seems as though that attitude hasn't disappeared on the continent.

Indeed, the Portuguese full-back has been dubbed "catastrophic" by the French-speaking Cherif Sadio while pundits on After Foot RMC suggested that "every time there were big games, his [Tavares'] shortcomings were glaring."

That will hardly surprise Arsenal fans, but it's damning that he seemingly isn't learning his lesson out on loan.

The surroundings aren't to blame either. After all, Marseille is the club where William Saliba took home Ligue 1's Young Player of the Season in 2021/22.

On the face of it, the 23-year-old's stats aren't bad this season. The marauding defender only has two fewer goals than Pepe in all competitions.

That said, for all of the modern clamour for an offensive full-back, defending should always be the chief priority.

See Trent Alexander Arnold as one case study. The Liverpool star is one of the finest creators in the game having supplied 65 goals for the Anfield outfit but his defensive shortcomings, as is the case with Tavares, are clear for all to see.

Earlier in the term, one French publication, Coeur Marseilleis, suggested that the former Benfica ace was simply 'getting worse and worse' while he 'frustrates both in his choices and his attitude'. That is hardly a glowing assessment and one Arteta will have to take stock of over the summer.

This was a golden opportunity for Tavares to prove himself, but with Arsenal possessing wonderful options in his position – Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney – while now having to batter away competition from the spritely Lino Sousa too, it would be a surprise if he was at the club next term.

Indeed, it feels an apt time for Arsenal to remove the £27k-per-week man from their books.